I have loved horses for as long as I can remember. I recall reading Black Beauty<\/em>, The Black Stallion<\/em>, Misty of Chincoteague, <\/em>and every other horse story I could find. By the time I was in the fourth grade, I was hooked. Even though I don\u2019t own horses anymore, I will always love them and enjoy their beauty.<\/p> When I was in the sixth grade, we moved to a house in the country. A man with three horses and a pony leased our pasture. I enjoyed petting and spending time with these beauties and feeding them sugar cubes, but I longed for more.<\/p> I loved being outdoors and exploring the area around our house. I found a trail through the brush at the back of the property and followed it one day. I discovered that the path led to a neighboring property, home to a beautiful Quarter Horse mare. <\/p> I was fearful because I was trespassing, but I couldn\u2019t resist walking over to the horse\u2019s pen and petting her. I nearly jumped out of my skin when an older gentleman approached and spoke to me. I apologized for being there and turned to leave. I stopped when he asked me if I wanted to know the horse\u2019s name. Of course I wanted to know her name. I wanted to know everything about her! He told me her name was Princess, and that she used to be ridden often by his granddaughter (could have been daughter), but had not been ridden in a while. <\/p> He introduced himself as Mr. Gautreau, and he asked me if I knew how to ride. I told him I had only ridden on a pony at the fair, but I loved horses. He explained that Princess was very docile, and that she was often tied out in different areas of the property to graze. He said I was welcome to come by anytime and climb up and sit on her while she ate.<\/p> I was in heaven. I took him up on his offer often. Princess was a sweetheart. She never seemed to mind having me sit on her as she grazed. Sometimes I brought a book with me and sat up there reading. Other times I would lie on my back on her back, look up at the sky, and simply enjoy being alive. As time passed, Mr. Gautreau showed me how to brush Princess and how to lift and clean her feet. He also let me ride her from her grazing spot back to her pen. She was quite gentle, and could be ridden with just a lead rope and halter. <\/p> Over the years, Princess would sometimes get loose and come through the trees and underbrush to visit our property. I felt quite grown up and responsible as I caught her, led her back down the path to the Gautreatu house, and returned her safely to her pen.<\/p> The memory of Mr. Gautreau and Princess has stayed with me all my life. Mr. Gautreau treated me with kindness and respect. He nurtured my love of horses and built my confidence around them. He taught me by example that generosity is a gift that can last a lifetime. Thank you, Mr. Gautreau and Princess. You changed my life.<\/p><\/div><\/article><\/main><\/section><\/div><\/div> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have loved horses for as long as I can remember. I recall reading Black Beauty, The Black Stallion, Misty of Chincoteague, and every other horse story I could find. By the time I was in the fourth grade, I was hooked. Even though I don\u2019t own horses anymore, I will always love them and … Continue reading Thank you Mr. Gautreau<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lettersfromann.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lettersfromann.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lettersfromann.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lettersfromann.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lettersfromann.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lettersfromann.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21,"href":"https:\/\/lettersfromann.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lettersfromann.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lettersfromann.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lettersfromann.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}